The Brookhaven leader., 1887-09-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Tribulstions and Rewards Of
True Christian Hospitality.
The Stranger at Our Gate To-Day BE-
comes Our Defender TO-Morrow-
The Hospitality of the Home
Beyond the skies.

eeEnON ~ Inc hanptOnS,' TOOK IoT MS
subject Hospitality" from which he de
hvered brief but pointed discourse. His
text was:
Given to hospitality-Romans Kill Is
There is danger that the multiplication
Of large and commodious hotels in our
towns and cities and villages will utterly
exterminate that grace which Abrasam
exhibited when he entertained the angels;
and which Lot showed when he watched
for guests at the gate of the city; and
which Christ recognized as positive
requisite for entering Heaven, when he
declared:
Twas a stranger and ye took me in.
I propose TO speak this morning of the
trials and rewards of Christian hospitality.
The first trial often comes in the within
and eccentricity of the guest hims elf.
There are a great many excellent people
who have protuberances of disposition,
and sharpe edges Of temperament, and
unpliability of character, which make
them positive nuisance in any house
where they stay. On short acquaintance,
they will begin to command the house
hold affairs; order the employees to I'M
usual service; keep unreasonable hours;
use narcotics in places offensive to sensi-
tive nostrils; put their feet at unusual
elevations; drop the ashes of their Havana
on costly tapestry; open bureaus they
ought never to touch; and pry into things
they ought never to see; and become inn
pervious to rousing bells; and have all the
peculiarities Of the gormandizer or the
dyspeptic; and make excavations from
poor dentistry with unusual implements;
and in thousand ways aftlict the house
hold which proposes to take care of them.
Added to all, they stay too long. They
have no idea when their welcome is worn
out, aud they would be unmoved even
by the blessing which my friend, Gerrit
Smith, the philanthropist, asked one morn
ing at his breakfast table, on the day when
he hoped that the long protracted guests
would depart, saying: 80 Lord, bless the
provision, and our friends who leave us
to-dayn
But, my friends, there are alleviations to
be put on their side of the scale. Perhaps
they have not had the same refining in
fuences about them in early life that you
have had Perhaps they have inherited
eccentricities that they can not help. Per-
haps it is your duty, by example, to show
them a better way. Perhaps they are
sent to be trial for the development Of
your patience. Perhaps they were to be
intended as an illustration of the opposite
of what you are trying to inculcate in the
minds of your children. Perhaps it is to
make your home the brighter when they
are gono. Whom our guests are CHEEKY,
and fascinating, and elegant, it is very
easy to entertain them; but when We find
in our guests that which is antagonistic to
our taste and sentiment, it is positive
triumph when we can obey the words of
my text, and be given 30 hospitality"
Another trial in the using of this grace
IS in the toll aud expense of exercising it.
In the well-regulated household things go
smoothly; but now you have introduced a
foreign element into the machinery, and
Enough you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ungovernable
stove; the ruined dessert; the delayed
marketing; the perplexities of caterer;
the difficulty of doing proper work, and
yet always being presentable. Though
you may say there shall be no care or
anxiety, there will be care, and there will
be anxiety.
In 1894 the Captain General provided a
very grand entertainment, and among
other things he had fountain in his gar
den-a fountain of strong drink. In it
were four hogsheads of brandy, eight
hogsheads of water, twenty-five thousand
lemons, thirteen hundred pounds of Lis
WIZ su5ol1 AfS POuhuS VI dJSl
nutmeg, three hundred toasted bis
cults, and a boat, built on purpose, was
placed in the fountain, and a boy rowed
around it and filed the cups of the people
who came there to be supplied. Well, you
say, that was q luxurious entertainment,
and of course the man had no anxiety; but
have to tell you that, though you had TO
propose an entertainment like that, you
have anxiety. In that very thing comes
the divine reward.
We were born TO serve: and when we
ssrve others, we serve God The flush on thai
woman's cheek, as she bends over the hot
stove, is as sacred in Gods sight as the
flush on the cheek of one, who, on q hot
day, breaches the gospel. We may serve
God with plate, and cutlery, and broom,
as certainly as we can serve him with
psalm book and liturgy. Margaret, Queen
of Norway and Sweden and Denmark, had
royal cup of ten lips, on which was re-
corded the names Of the guests who had
drunk from this cup. And every
Christian woman has a royal cup, on
which are written all the names of those
who have ever been entertained by her in
Christian style; names not cut by human
ingenuity, but written by the hand of a
divine Jesus. But, my friends, you are
not to toll unnecessarily. Though the fare
be plain, cheerful presidency of the table,
and cleanliness of appointments, will be
good enough for anybody that ever comes
10 your house. John Howard was invited
10 the house OF a nObleman. He said: al
will come on one condition, and that is
that you have nothing but potatoes on the
table" The requisition was complied
with. Cyrus, King of Persia, under the
same circumstances, prescribed that on
the table there must be moth
ing but bread. OF course these were
extremes, but they are Illustration of
the fact that more depends upon the
banqueters thanupOn the banquet. iwant
10 lift this idea of Christian entertainment
out of positive bondage, into glorious
inducement. Every effort you put forth,
and every dollar you give to the entertain
ment of friend or foe, you give directly to
Christ. Suppose it were announced that
the Lord Jesus Christ would come to this
place this week, what woman in this
house would not be glad to wash for him 4;
or spread for him bed, or bake bread for
him? There was one Of old who washed
for him, drawing the water from the well
of her own tears. He is coming. He will
be here tomorrow.
Inasmuch as We have done it to one OF the
least Of these, my brethren We have done it to
me.
In picture galleries we have often seen
representations of Walter Scott and his
friends, or Washington Irving with his
fade out, while through everlasting ages,